Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.14 EPS

Key Points

• Apple reported a strong quarterly earnings result with an EPS of $1.57, exceeding expectations by $0.14 and achieving revenue of $94.04 billion, up 9.6% from the previous year.
• Despite the positive earnings, AAPL stock fell 2.5%, closing at $202.38 following the announcement.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.5%, with the payment date set for August 14th.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Thursday. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14, Zacks reports. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $203.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,693,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,869,531. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $205.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.31. Apple has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $21,790,933,000 after acquiring an additional 984,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lifted their target price on Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.25.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.